System and method for converting a physical disk to a virtual disk

Abstract

A method for converting a disk of a physical computer into a virtual disk for use by a virtual machine is described. Contents of the disk of the physical computer are copied into an image file, wherein the image file has a different sector-by-sector organization of the contents than the disk but a logically equivalent file system organization. Hardware configuration information from the image file is then extracted, wherein the hardware configuration information relates to hardware of the physical computer and, based on a comparison of the extracted hardware configuration information and a virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine, hardware-dependent files in the image file are replaced with substitute files that are compatible with the virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed on a computer processor, causes the computer processor to carry out a method of migrating a disk image of a first computer to a second computer, the method comprising:
 capturing the disk image of the first computer, wherein the captured disk image includes a first file, which is a hardware-dependent system file corresponding to a hardware configuration of the first computer; 
 copying unmodified contents of the captured disk image of the first computer to a disk of the second computer; 
 determining a hardware configuration of the second computer; and 
 modifying contents of the captured disk image of the first computer based on the hardware configuration of the second computer, wherein said modifying includes replacing the first file with a second file, which is a hardware-dependent system file corresponding to the determined hardware configuration of the second computer, wherein said modifying is carried out on a copy of the unmodified contents of the captured disk image of the first computer on the disk of the second computer, prior to deployment at the second computer. 
 
     
     
       2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 retrieving the second file from a source that is external to the captured disk image of the first computer. 
 
     
     
       3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the source is a file cache that contains hardware-dependent system files corresponding to the hardware configuration of the second computer. 
     
     
       4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the first and second files are system files of the same operating system, and are compatible with a current patch level of the same operating system. 
     
     
       5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 creating a redo log; 
 storing the modified contents of the captured disk image of the first computer in the redo log; and 
 copying contents of the captured disk image of the first computer as modified by the stored contents of the redo log to a disk of the second computer for deployment at the second computer. 
 
     
     
       6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the first computer is a physical machine and the second computer is a virtual machine. 
     
     
       7. A computer system including a processor that is programmed to carry out a method of migrating a disk image of a first computer, which is a physical machine, to a second computer, which is a virtual machine, the method comprising:
 capturing the disk image of the first computer, wherein the captured disk image includes a first file, which is a hardware-dependent system file corresponding to a hardware configuration of the first computer; 
 copying unmodified contents of the captured disk image of the first computer to a disk of the second computer; 
 determining a hardware configuration of the second computer; and 
 modifying contents of the captured disk image of the first computer based on the hardware configuration of the second computer, wherein said modifying includes replacing the first file with a second file, which is a hardware-dependent system file corresponding to the determined hardware configuration of the second computer, wherein said modifying is carried out on a copy of the unmodified contents of the captured disk image of the first computer on the disk of the second computer, prior to deployment at the second computer. 
 
     
     
       8. The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:
 retrieving the second file from a source that is external to the captured disk image of the first computer. 
 
     
     
       9. The computer system of  claim 8 , wherein the source is a file cache that contains hardware-dependent system files corresponding to the hardware configuration of the second computer. 
     
     
       10. The computer system of  claim 8 , wherein the first and second files are system files of the same operating system, and are compatible with a current patch level of the same operating system. 
     
     
       11. The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:
 creating a redo log; 
 storing the modified contents of the captured disk image of the first computer in the redo log; and 
 copying contents of the captured disk image of the first computer as modified by the stored contents of the redo log to a disk of the second computer for deployment at the second computer.